Such textile machines are constructed as multi-position machines. This means that many identical working units, such as, for example, winding units for producing cross-wound packages, are positioned side by side in a desired length. When installing such machines, the floor space plays an important role, and consequently it is necessary to construct the machines with a narrowest possible spacing between the individual working positions and with a limited width.
It is known to use conveyor belts or overhead conveyors, which are in most cases accommodated in the region of the central longitudinal axis of the machine inside the machine frame. The finished cross-wound packages are delivered or doffed either by hand or by handling devices to these conveyors. In the case of a double-sided textile machine the problem arises that the package conveyor belts can be loaded only or hold the equivalent number of doffed wound yarn packages from one machine side. Only after having emptied the package conveyor belt or overhead conveyor is it possible to handle the other machine side or the equivalent number of doffed wound yarn packages.
Likewise, it is already known to arrange two conveyor belts along the center axis of a textile machine.
In these known apparatus, the package conveyor belts are arranged side by side in one plane and move in opposite direction. One end of the two conveyor belts accommodates a device for transferring the packages from one conveyor belt to the other. In this known apparatus, the packages can be separately removed from each machine side and transported to the machine end with a time delay. The disadvantage of such an apparatus is that it leads to an excessively wide textile machine, which will greatly affect the room conditions when the machines are installed.
Further known is an automatic winding machine with a traveling package doffer, which comprises a package conveyor belt and a package gripping and lifting device arranged above the conveyor belt and serving as an expanded storage, to which the packages can be delivered from the conveyor belt and temporarily stored thereon. However, the packages on the gripping and lifting device are not transported, but must again be returned to the conveyor belt for their further transportation.